Qatar bans con­trac­tors from leav­ing coun­try

DUBAI: Qatar has banned con­trac­tors from leav­ing the small, oil-rich coun­try as it car­ries out a probe into how heavy rains dam­aged build­ings and road­ways. An ar­ti­cle late Fri­day on the state-run Qatar News Agency an­nounced the travel ban. It said “own­ers of com­pa­nies, con­trac­tors and con­sult­ing en­gi­neers” would be banned from trav­el­ing abroad un­til the end of the probe. A year’s worth of rain on Wed­nes­day del­uged Doha’s Ha­mad In­ter­na­tional Air­port, the home of Qatar Air­ways, pour­ing through at least one part of the roof. The air­port cost at least $15 bil­lion to build. Rain­wa­ter also flooded streets and shut down some stores in Doha. Qatar has seen a boom in con­struc­tion, some de­rided as shoddy, ahead of host­ing the 2022 FIFA World Cup.